I've been procrastinating writing this post. Also processing a very full to the brim 5 days. I've struggled with where to begin, but it seems best to simply begin at the beginning.
Lily and I watched the sunrise from 39,000 feet. We were both excited for her thirteenth birthday trip to NYC. We'd been anticipating and planning this girl's trip since August.
Are we there yet?
It was her first time in the Big Apple and my first in decades. I loved seeing her see the skyline with virgin eyes. She was quite taken with what she saw.
OMG!
We learned right away to keep our eyes wide open because there is so much to see. The people watching here is unparalleled. All around us: so many stories.We weren't in NYC for 10 minutes before we witnessed an adoption at the airport.
This little fella flew across the country to meet his new family.
A cousin battled airport chaos construction to pick us up and bring us to her place in Brooklyn. We needed to make a plan and take off some layers. It was hot! hot! hot! and humid for our visit. Not exactly what we were hoping for when we booked a fall trip, but it was our first opportunity to embrace whatever came our way otherwise known as...all things beyond our control. There were many.
My new glasses were in my purse all along. (Inside Joke.)
One of the things Lily was most looking forward to was riding the subway. I didn't have fond memories of them, but by the end of this trip I came around. It seems to me that the best and the worst of the city takes place on the subway: rats lurking, men peeing on tracks, teens antagonizing an old woman for a YouTube video, but also people giving up seats for pregnant women or elderly, riders quick to offer directions to neophytes, and entertainers entertaining.
This was her first ride within minutes of landing.
Lily was queen of the subway and definitely the navigator amongst us.
We took our first ride to the Brooklyn Heights vicinity.
We walked through the quaint streets toward the promenade.
I instantly fell in love with Brooklyn.
Our first view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn.
Another of the Financial District.
The East River separates Brooklyn from Manhattan.
We'd been up since 4 a.m. and were sweating bullets, but we were still genuinely smiling.
The picturesque Brooklyn Bridge.
It's one of the oldest bridges in the U.S. built in 1883.
We waited in line for Grimaldi's pizza.
Rumor has it that Juliana's next door is the real Grimaldi's, but their line was twice as long and we were starving. Lily and I both gave this pie a thumbs up nonetheless. It was a solid NY style crust: not too thick with a crisp bottom, chewy middle and gooey top. The sauce was fresh and bright and the toppings tasty. The waiter was telling us stories that were reminiscent of The Sopranos. I half expected to see Tony sitting at the bar.
Mangia!
Foldable just the way New Yorkers eat their slices.
We wanted to walk the bridge because it's said to be the money view. It's only 1.1 miles long, but have I mentioned it was hot? We decided to take the water taxi which, dropped us right off near Wall Street. It also offered stunning views of the city, and they served wine. The $2.50 ride is so quick we didn't even finish our drinks though.
Crossing the bay on the way to the city.
Planes, trains and ferries so far our first day. It was still early though.
Views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge from the taxi.
Before the Brooklyn Bridge was built, the only way to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan was by water.
Looking back to Brooklyn.
We walked along the riverfront to the South Street Seaport and then back to Battery Park to catch the Staten Island Ferry for a better view of The Statue of Liberty.
On the ferry, thankful for the breeze over the water.
We pulled out into the Lower Bay to make the trip to Staten Island.
Lily was a little unnerved by our armed coast guard escort.
The ferry is a great and free way to get a little closer to Lady Liberty and to relax.
There's quite a bit of traffic in the harbor on a Friday afternoon.
La Liberte Eclairant le Monde.
Next time I'd like to visit the viewing deck and nearby Ellis Island too.
It is touching to see this icon of freedom.
Another ferry.
Manhattan from the harbor.
Here you can see New Jersey, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Navy vessels.
At 4 o'clock the streets of the Financial District filled with suits heading home or out after the day. We put on 8 miles and decided it was time to head back to Brooklyn too. Lily wasn't the least bit bothered that we couldn't get a cab because she prefers the subway. There were cabs galore, but they were either full, ending their day, or unwilling to take us to Brooklyn. Sometimes you get the feeling how close and yet how far away you are.
As the sun set, the evening was perfect with the softest breeze on the quaint roof top deck.
Lily kept a close eye on the skyline.
It was time for refreshments and planning the next day.
Lily with kaleidoscope eyes.
The big girls sat out on the balcony to let Lily fall asleep first. There was a party going on on a neighbor's roof top deck. The city was just coming to life, but we must go to bed. It' had been a 20 hour day.
Good morning Brooklyn. I felt like the city was much cleaner than it's been in my past visits, but this was a common sight.
After a pretty solid night's sleep, we were up about 8:30 and on our way to the city by 9:30. We took an Uber and were lectured by Sajib for keeping him waiting. It may have been 2 minutes. It's our first and last experience with Uber this trip. As unreliable as the trains can be on the weekend, they are better than Uber. We eventually killed Sajib with kindness and although we only understood a little of what he said, he tried to map out the bridges and tunnels for us. He also told Lily to be kind to her mother as we exited the taxi because she's a lucky girl to be on this trip. Yes, I gave him a nice tip.
On the Brooklyn Bridge.
Looking at The Manhattan in the distance.
We're back in Manhattan.
Our first stop was Dylan's and we were there when it opened. This was on Lily's bucket list. We spent over an hour exploring the three floors of every kind of candy imaginable.
Literal kid in a candy shop.
Candy for breakfast is totally acceptable on vacation.
They have candy in every color, shape and size. Lily picked out gifts for friends and a hefty stash of gummies, which she is most sweet on. I filled a bag with any number of things coated in chocolate to bring home for the boys, but because we realized they'll likely melt...we dug in.
Despite the fact that Serendipity is next door and a frozen hot chocolate would probably have tasted good on the already steamy day, we didn't want to waste time waiting in line and we needed some real food. We walked toward Central Park South hoping to pick up some lunch for a picnic in the park.
The streets were busy with lots of tourists and local families just living their normal lives going to birthday parties and soccer games on this Saturday.
We passed many familiar streets and avenues.
Before we knew it, we were at Grand Army Plaza on 58th and 60th Street, just west of Fifth Avenue. It's bisected by Central Park South.
Equestrian statue of William Tecumseh Sherman in Columbus Circle and a view of the famous Plaza Hotel.
We decided to meander into the park a bit, but didn't have much time as we had to be on Broadway for a 2 o'clock show. The park was crazy crowded on the summeresque day and lively with entertainers, carriages, strollers and people walking, running, biking, blading, dancing, cart wheeling and kissing. I could sit and people watch all day.
This is one of the entrances for carriage drives.
I wanted to take a ride to explore more of the park, but Lily wasn't into it. Next time.
Central Park South.
Playing for the crowds, or one captivated little cutie.
Not very good park selfie, which sparked a quick argument. Just keeping it real.
We had to move on in search of something to eat so we started walking towards Broadway. We ducked into the 9 Ten restaurant in Midtown mainly because there was no line and we had to use the facilities. It ended up being a good choice. It was filled with locals and I prefer to find these off the beaten path joints that give you a true taste of the local life and fare. I had a bagel. It was delish. I think NY bagels ruined me from ever enjoying our regional imitations. Lily loved her chicken tenders.
I payed the bill, Navigator Lil got directions to the theatre and Snapchatted, and we set off.
I'm not going to lie that I got a little teary upon seeing this.
This place, this show, this girl all hold special places in my heart.
This was my first show on Broadway 30 years ago. I loved it every bit as much this time. It wasn't a favorite for Lily. At intermission, she pondered the lack of conflict. She seemed a little surprised that mostly it's a collection of vignettes. She liked it a lot though in retrospect. And don't say anything about my hair here. Thank you.
Memory brought me to tears. Always does. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now with Kleenex nearby because it's up soon.
The set was very different from when I saw this show on Broadway many moons ago, but I thought it was still impressive.
This one was for Grandpa who really wanted to be with us.
I Spy.
Old Deuteronomy. The costumes were outstanding.
We waited for some autographs after the show.
Rum Tum Tugger, Macavity, Mr. Mistoffelees and Grizabella were our favorites. Neither one of us had any clue who signed our Playbill without their make up on and we refused to be rude and ask.
Next on my list.
Next on Lily's. She's going in a couple weeks.
Post show we meandered to and through a buzzing, bursting Times Square.
It was crowded and loud and so not our cup of tea, but you need to see it at least once. We didn't pass by any of the notable fixtures like the Naked Cowboy, but I think that was for the best.
She saw, she shopped, we left.
We had dinner reserves at Becco in Midtown. It was my cousin Carol's favorite place. I cannot say that it is a favorite of mine, or maybe I just ordered wrong as I'm prone to do. They have a daily pasta trio that I was excited to sample.
The green bean pesto rigatoni was the hit. The ravioli in brown butter sauce was decent, but the lobster pappardelle was inedible. The seafood was overcooked and rubbery. I also think I would serve them in individual bowls. The presentation was sloppy and unappealing.
Lily loved LOVED her risotto and chicken and that's really all that was important to me: her. I was also a fan of the $29 bottles of wine just sayin'. Neither one of us cared for the overdressed and excessively lemony Caesar salad. Everyone seemed to enjoy their deserts, but I had room only for a taste of Lily's sorbet trio.
Becco means beak.
We only put on 6 miles Saturday, but we were tired so we got a cab to take us home to Brooklyn.
We never did get to Chinatown...we just drove through and I'm OK with that.
Sunday we were up before the sun to get to the 9/ll Museum before it opened for a before hours tour I was probably most excited for. We had 4 Ubers within a couple blocks of us cancel and there were no cabs to be found. We decided to brave the subway even on a Sunday because we were running out of time. With the help of some kind locals, we got on the right train and off at the right stop. New Yorkers don't usually offer help, but we found that if you ask, they are kind and generous with directions. Nevertheless, we knew we weren't going to make it in time.
Always smiling on the subway.
Chambers Street bound kinda like rock stars.
We came up from the subway to pouring rain. Of course, I left my umbrella at home so we squeezed under Lil's and eventually hailed a cab even though we were only 8 blocks from our destination. We weren't sure in which direction. Neither was the cabbie (true story), but at least we stayed dry while he figured it out. And I actually spotted it. Also true.
A sight for sore eyes.
Yes, sadly we missed our tour, but we were still able to gain access to the museum. We were there when it opened so we got a little of the solitude and solemnity I was hoping for. This was on both of our NYC bucket lists and it ended up being a favorite in a long list of highlights over our almost 5 days in the city. I knew it was going to be difficult...emotional. You're basically visiting a cemetery for a perpetual memorial service, but I was surprised by how damn proud and patriotic it made me feel. The exhibits are thoughtfully put together as they should be. It took over a decade to curate. The museum is subterranean, which is jolting. As you enter, you descend 70 feet to the faintest rendition of Amazing Grace. The experience is sobering and somber like so much of history, but overall I felt such pride first for the people of this city and then the people of this country.
The 60 foot slurry wall.
The slurry wall is the soul of the museum. It was the bulwark between the twin towers and the Hudson River. On 9/11 it cracked, but it didn't give like so many feared.
It's one still-standing symbol of resilience.
This is the last column standing at Ground Zero.
It is covered in photos and prayer cards and pictures. It's tagged with tributes.
We remember.
This exhibit, which depicts the color of the sky on 9/11 before the attacks, touches me. The sky as remembered by almost 3000 artists - one for each victim - before it was clouded with smoke and debris and death.
It is hauntingly beautiful.
Another artist painted one painting for each victim.
These kind of representations portray the magnitude of the loss.
I also liked the exhibit featuring covers from The New Yorker depicting, often playfully, theTwin Towers.
The first cover after the attack was simply black. It is such a stark contrast to all the colorful fun in the covers before 9/11.
I thought the museum did a respectable job honoring the victims, explaining the events of that day, the climate leading up to that day, and what has happened since. As we exited to visit the memorial, which consists of two granite waterfalls that fill the Twin Tower's foot prints, it was to the sound of Taps. The rain stopped and we visited the memorial to say some prayers for those who lost their lives that day. It felt like we've spent this Sunday morning in church.
Before.
After.
A new tower stands at the site. It's the tallest in the city like its predecessors.
After spending hours at the museum we were hungry so we hopped on the subway to the West Village.
It's a soupy Sunday selfie.
We decided to have brunch, which is a big NYC thing, at Rosemary's. Lily had her favorite meal of the trip at this true farm (on the roof) to table establishment. She loved her cavatelli with heirloom tomatoes three ways: sauteed, stewed and roasted topped with garlic, basil and Parmesan. She also sweet talked me out of the grilled foccacia that came with my breakfast a yummy dish of eggs scrambled with tomato, basil and burrata topped with arugula and pine nuts.
After brunch, we spent some time walking around the artsy West Village looking at the quaint brownstones and doing a little bit of shopping for art work and souvenirs.
I could live here.
Or here.
I'd have a bike like this.
And I'd shop here.
90 West Bedford Street. Home of Friends.
Blue? or...
Pink? She goes with the rose colored glasses as all 13 year olds should.
She passed on these jackets. She wanted the chair, but it wouldn't fit in her carry on.
We were too sweaty and droopy to walk the High Line to The Whitney, and honestly that was my thing never Lil's so we took a cab back to Brooklyn and eventually walked to the promenade in Brooklyn Heights.
The view from the East River at gloaming.
Lily's a looker too. She was such a co-adventurer this trip. We traveled well and happily together.
One more selfie. We couldn't ask any of the lovebirds around us to take a picture because they were gazing in each other's eyes and everyone else was infatuated by the city so we did our best.
The view of Lower Manhattan is even more breathtaking at night. It reminds me of Moonstruck and I really missed my guy in this moment. Someday I want to come back here with him.
Lady Liberty at twilight.
The Brooklyn Bridge at night.
Lily's favorite. We arrived seconds before closing for her to get her fix.
We thought we might try Juliana's this night, but the line for Patsy's pizza was even longer than it was on Friday. Next time. Third times a charm.
Instead we got cones from The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, which occupies the old fire boat house on the waterfront. Cool ice cream was the ticket too.
We enjoyed them and also this amazing view.
The water taxi runs at night too. If we had really been adventurous, we'd have taken it and had dinner at South Street Seaport. Next time.
A city of bridges and tunnels and twinkly lights.
One more.
Last one.
We turned our back on the stunning skyline and made our way to Boerum Hill in search of a place for dinner. The ice cream cones were just not cutting it. We decided on a Thai place called Lemon Grass and we both ordered the exact same thing: Noodle Mao with a heaping side of steamed edamame.
Yes, that's a noodle.
It doesn't look like much, but it was so delicious and not just because we were starving. It was a sweet, salty, spicy mix of noodles and chicken and vegetables.
After 10 miles and cleaning her plate, Lily literally passed out at about 11 o'clock.
I wasn't far behind her. I was waiting for a call back from Southwest because I was trying to change our flight home the next day from 8:40 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. I was successful for another $200. I slept like the dead...like a rock.
We slept in on Monday morning. That means we got up at 9 o'clock. It was a grey, rainy morning. More humidity. Yea! We walked to Starbucks to get a little fuel.
I checked on our flight only to find out it'd been cancelled. The 8:40, our original plan, was now full. It looked like we were getting another day and night in NYC and neither one of us was too bummed out about that.
Because it was a soggy day, we decided to do another museum and as far as Lil was concerned, art museums were out. This was her trip so she was boss.
We also decided to take the subway because it appeared to offer door to door transport.
J Street Metrotech, Brooklyn to 81st Street, Central Park West.
It was a long ride, but we were entertained by a couple drummers who played for a while and just the people of NYC.
We had seats, but the roof above us was leaking in the rain. That meant we were happy.
We arrived at The Museum of Natural History as promised.
Just like everyone else on a grey drizzly holiday in the city. The line snaked around the building.
No problem because we found another line that was not much shorter, but it was inside.
It was almost 2 o' clock when we entered the museum. The museum closes at 5:45. In that time, we had to eat something since we hadn't had a thing since dinner the night before, and we had a movie called Dark Universe to see in the planetarium at 3:00. Oh, and we needed to pencil in a little time for souvenir shopping: Lily's favorite pastime. We made a plan to see all the important exhibits, particularly focusing on human evolution and space, get lunch in a cafe, buy t. shirts and slime, and really have our minds blown by the movie about dark matter. Anything we missed we figured we could see on Night at the Museum.
We came away with more questions than answers after our speedy, discerning few hours, but I think that's they way it should be.
We were among the last to leave the museum and thanks to Lil's strong sense of direction (I was all turned around), we ended up exactly where we wanted to be...
on Central Park West so we ditched into the park for a bit.
Central Park in the rain.
On the Oak Bridge, a very tame family of 5 raccoons ate out of the hands of passersby. Apparently, they're famous. And cute.
We didn't see any birds in The Ramble, but we didn't amble in too far because it would soon be dark. I didn't want to add Central Park rescue to our growing list of mishaps.
We could hear a Columbus Day protest that gathered on the steps of the museum. Of course, we had to check it out.
As far as we could discern, they were protesting absolutely everything.
It all remained peaceful, but the NYPD was certainly out in full force. It was the most cops we'd seen all weekend.
We took the C train back to Brooklyn to clean up and made a plan for the evening.
We had a couple people ask us for directions today, so we must not have looked lost.
Lily looks mad. I think she was done with photos for the day.
We decided to walk down Smith Street to try out a gastropub called The Ugly Duckling that got good reviews on Yelp. It was a nice walk around Cobble Hill and it was exactly the vibe we were looking for: quaint, relaxed. It's an added bonus that our dinner was delicious. We did small plates and the favorite was the short rib street tacos with pickled red onion and salsa verde. I enjoyed the mussels in wine sauce with chimichurri, and Lily loved the buttermilk fried chicken.
After dinner we took the long way home weaving up and down quaint streets lined with brown stones and beneath a canopy of trees. It was a beautiful night and we only logged 6 miles for the day so we still had some energy and we knew it was our last night of the trip.
Tuesday morning we were up at 8 o'clock and welcomed by a beautiful day. It's sunny and breezy. The rain and humidity were gone. Amen. This morning's quest was rather simple, but important: NY bagels. Again with the help of Yelp, we decided to head back down Smith Street to Cobble Hill for Smith Street Bagels.
The bagels were perfectly fresh and chewy.
We sat in the window and watched the city come to life. Tuesday was a school/work day and the streets were filled with delivery drivers, bikers, taxis and nannies with strollers.
After breakfast, we continued down Smith Street to Carroll Gardens.
There were quaint restaurants and cute shops up and down the street. It reminded us of Milwaukee's East Side.
We did a little more shopping before it was time to pack up and head to the airport.
We were picked up at 12:30 for a 3:20 flight because there was zero chance we were missing our flight. While there was a great deal of traffic on the way to LGA, we were there with time to spare.
We spent our last $20 on one last NY pizza.
I'm already thinking about our next visit. Maybe Lily's 16th? It was a truly special time with my girl, and the many curve balls turned into blessings in disguise. We came home with an experience we'll cherish and remember forever.
